GDC 10: True Crime First Look

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Airjacking returns.

By Greg Miller

It wasn't long after watching the protagonist of True Crime leap from a moving motorcycle to a moving police car, slip into the vehicle, and take over the automobile (a move I believe Wheelman defined as "airjacking") that the developers looked me in the eye and told me this title was going to be a more serious, gritty reboot of this videogame franchise.

For sure, what Hong Kong Activision and United Games Front are working on is a way more realistic looking venue than say Grand Theft Auto IV's Liberty City -- the people and wet city streets are going for a more photorealistic vibe -- but don't get the impression that True Crime is going to be some kind of sim. In the short, short demo I got to see, Wei Shen was breaking arms over his shoulder, slamming the heads of bad guys in freezers, and burying meat cleavers in people's chest.

There are still going to be ample amounts of craziness in this "serious, gritty" reboot. With none of the previous True Crime baggage, you'll play as police officer Shen. Born in Hong Kong but raised in America, Shen has returned to his homeland, joined the force, and gone undercover as a Triad.

My demo started with Shen getting some orders from his angry Triad boss -- apparently someone shot up "mom's" restaurant -- climbing in an SUV with the boys, and heading off to rough up the bad guys. Here, the developers drove the SUV through the night. Hong Kong looked good as it was bathed in this amber coloring from the street lights and neon signs. The roads were wet and shiny, and the cars on them seemed detailed and realistic. The developer driving the car didn't get in any accidents, so no word on what damage might look like.

This trailer teaches you not to mess with Shen.

Eventually, the car rolled up on a warehouse, the player made Shen sprint from the car, and our hero dropkicked the first guy he saw before lifting the dude and tossing him in an open dumpster.

From there, the fighting got rather interesting. People would come flying in with a dropkick, and the player could reverse the move, toss the baddie to the ground, and pummel his face. When Shen would run at an opponent, he could climb up the bad guy's body with some fancy footwork and then come down on the foe's head with an impressive elbow strike. Shen shoved a guy into a fuse box for an impromptu electrocution, disarmed a guy with a butcher knife before slitting the opponent's throat, and kicked a propane tank into a group before shooting it and blowing everyone to hell.

As you're laying waste to everything on the screen, a red five-tier meter is filling (or depleting) on your radar in the bottom left corner of the screen. This is the Face meter and represents how you're viewed in Hong Kong. Your actions are reflected in the meter as well as what you're driving and wearing, and this then affects where you can go and who you can interact with. The developers weren't ready to really get into the details of the Face system, but it seems cool.

That's not how you use cover!

Will True Crime end up being cool? I don't know. The copy of the game I saw was extremely early in it's pre-alpha state and is far from what the final version of the game will look like (hopefully). Effects were missing (the butcher knife kind of just clipped through the bad guy's sternum), there was screen tearing, and so on -- all issues that are to be expected at this point in development. Still, what I did see reminded me a lot of Wheelman (realistic visuals, a real city, airjackings, a mix of several styles of play, and so on), and that was far from a smashing success.

According to those in charge, True Crime is set for a fall 2010 release, so look for more info here on IGN soon.